Africa

June 13, 2016 (KAMPALA) – Fighting erupted on Sunday evening in Uganda's Gulu district near the border with South Sudan, Ugandan media outlets have reported.

Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba (Monitor)

The first clashes in the Gulu district area, predominantly inhabited by the Acholi tribe in Uganda, occurred after media reports that a number of army officers have been allegedly arrested in Kampala over an alleged plan to stage military coup against President Yoweri Museveni.

“It is true, Gulu Police barracks was attacked today [Sunday],” Uganda media quoted police spokesperson, Fred Enanga.

“The attackers were repulsed in a fight that lasted about 39 minutes – from around 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm,” he added.

Enanga could not however name the fighters who stormed the police state for security reasons, saying this would be “jeopardizing investigations.”

Shops were closed as the fierce gun battle rocked the town, forcing many to scamper for safety. The police station was reported raided before army reinforcement came in to flash out the gunmen.

The incident also comes against the backdrop of reports that a new rebel movement has begun to operate in the area against President Museveni's government.

Last year, unidentified group of armed men attacked Mubende Police Station to loot the armoury but were repulsed after the army came in and joined the battle.

(ST)

June 13, 2016 (JUBA) – A senior army general in the opposition faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA-IO) under the leadership of the First Vice President, Riek Machar, said they have not been officially informed to open the river Nile route.

Lt. Gen. Simon Gatwech Dual, the chief of staff of the SPLA-IO, talks to the press at a rebel military site in Juba on April 25, 2016 (Photo AFP/Charles Lomodong)

The presidency of South Sudan and the council of ministers have resolved on a number of security issues, but which have not yet been communicated officially to the implementers on the ground.

In the last week's Friday council of ministers meeting, information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, said the SPLM-IO leadership would direct their Sector One commander in Upper Nile state, General Johnson Olony, to allow the river route to open between Renk and Malakal which the opposition controls.

However, the top commander of the SPLA-IO in the Joint Military Ceasefire Committee (JMCC), General James Koang Chuol, said their organization has not been informed to communicate the matter.

JMCC is a body established under the August 2015 peace agreement to monitor the implementation of the security arrangements in the country.

“We have not been informed officially that there is food that is going to be brought from Renk to Juba. If we were informed the joint military committee would do that. But no one had informed the military committee officially,” General Chuol told the media.

He said they have not been informed about the items which the government wanted to ferry along the River Nile.

The river route connecting Renk and Malakal has been blocked since last year by the opposition forces of the SPLA-IO.

General Chuol also earlier said they have not been informed officially in writing to identify the cantonment areas for opposition forces in Greater Equatoria and Greater Bahr el Ghazal regions, despite agreement in the presidency to establish the cantonment areas.

No cantonment areas have yet been established in the country.

(ST)

Control of the land is at the heart of politics in South Africa and a new party is calling for justice for the country's oldest inhabitants.

The Khoisan Revolution will be competing in South Africa's local elections in August. But who are its leaders and what is the party trying to do?

June 13, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese parliament on Monday has ratified a 60 million K.D (about $200 million) loan agreement from Kuwait to finance irrigation projects of Roseires dam in the Blue Nile state following an intense debate on whether or not the loan complies with the Sharia law.

Roseires Dam (ST)

Sudan's foreign relations have witnessed a remarkable shift since last fall particularly in its rapprochement with the Arab Gulf states following years of chilly ties.

Several legislators refused to approve the loan unless a legal opinion from the Sudan Religious Scholar Council (SRSC) underscoring that the loan doesn't include usurious interest was obtained.

However, other MPs stressed the need to approve the loan due to the difficult economic conditions experienced by the country.

Meanwhile, a joint report by the parliamentary subcommittee on legislation, justice and human rights and the subcommittee of finance and economic planning and the subcommittee on agriculture, animal resources and forests has revealed that the loan would be repaid within 19 years with an annual premium of 1,5 million K.D.

MP Mubarak al-Nur said the loan must not be approved unless a legal opinion was received from the SRSC and the Islamic Fiqh Academy (IFA) showing that the loan doesn't include an interest rate.

However, MP Abdel-Rahim Issa said the country is in dire need of the loan particularly under the current economic circumstances.

For his part, MP Mohamed al-Hassan al-Amin pointed to the existence of an independent committee that looks into the compatibility of the loans with the Sharia law, saying the committee belongs to the presidency and includes several religious scholars.

He pointed the committee approved a number of loans in the past and rejected some others.

The head of the subcommittee on agriculture, animal resources and forests Abdallah Masar, for his part, underscored the importance of the loan saying it would help expand the cultivated area.

He added that the loan would change life in the Blue Nile completely and will increase power production and end the conflict in the area.

Sudan's economy was hit hard since the southern part of the country declared independence in July 2011, taking with it about 75% of the country's oil output.

The East African nation also suffers from a two-decade economic embargo imposed upon it by the United States in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses.

(ST)

June 13, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Leaders of the Sudan Call forces have issued conflicting statements regarding a proposed meeting of the alliance to decide whether or not to meet the chief African mediator Thabo Mbeki to discuss the Roadmap Agreement for peace and dialogue in Sudan.

Leaders of the opposition "Sudan Call" sign an agreement on the alliance's structures in Paris on 22 April 2016 (ST Photo)

Last March, the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and the Sudanese government signed a framework agreement calling to stop war in Blue Nile, Darfur, and South Kordofan and to engage in the national dialogue process.

However, the opposition groups, Justice and Equality Movement ((JEM), NUP, Sudan People's Liberation Movement -North (SPLM-N), and Sudan Liberation Movement-Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) refused the roadmap saying it acknowledges a government controlled dialogue conference and would lead to reproduce the regime.

Following a meeting held last week to discuss the opposition refusal of the Roadmap Agreement, NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi said he agreed with Mbeki to hold a meeting with the Sudan Call forces to discuss the matter.

The NUP leader pointed that he proposed that the Sudan Call forces participating in the dialogue should send an official letter demanding a meeting with Mbeki to reach an agreement on those issues, saying the latter accepted his suggestion.

In a letter extended to Sudan Tribune Monday, al-Mahdi directed veiled criticism at some parties of the alliance, saying their actions indicate that the Sudan Call is not a coherent entity that seeks to establish a new regime through dialogue or popular uprising as stated in its founding statement.

He pointed to the importance for holding the proposed meeting in Addis Ababa, saying the meeting would basically discuss the completion of the alliance's structures besides exchanging views on the letter that should be sent to Mbeki as soon as possible.

Al-Mahdi warned that the postponement or cancellation of the Sudan Call meeting “would represent a precious gift for the regime and a terrible loss for the legitimate demands of our people”, saying the alliance must keep pace with the rapid developments and use it to advance the national agenda instead of allowing it to serve the interests of the tyrants.

“The dialogue [conference] is criticizing the regime and some founding leaders of the regime are abandoning it and the internal atmosphere is calling for a new regime and the recommendations of the internal dialogue are echoing the views of the opposition,” he said

He said this atmosphere requires the Sudan Call forces to show unity and prove they are serious about establishing a new regime through dialogue or peaceful popular uprising.

“However, actions of some Sudan Call parties implies the opposite of these expected stances … this would frustrate the hopes of the Sudanese people,” he added.

Al-Mahdi further called for increasing the isolation of the regime by backing the African mediation, saying the Sudan Call should express support the positive items of the Roadmap and seek to address its shortcomings on the same basis that he mentioned in his letter to Mbeki.

He said the refusal of some Sudan Call parties to discuss the Roadmap would cast doubts on the opposition seriousness and weaken the position of its international allies while strengthening the stance of the regime's backers and would eventually push Mbeki to criticize the opposition in his report to the African peace body.

For his part, the leader of JEM Gibril Ibrahim told radio Afia Darfur that the United States Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, Donald Booth, has extended the invitation to the Sudan Call forces to discuss the Roadmap next Thursday in Addis Ababa.

He added that the rest of the Sudan Call forces and Thabo Mbeki would participate in the talks at a later stage.

Last week, the alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) has distanced itself from any discussions about the roadmap, saying the ongoing talks with Mbeki do not mean anything for it.

The NCF is a member of the Sudan Call coalition but says the regime is not credible and points that the popular uprising is the best way to achieve regime change.

Mbeki form his side, deals in his peace initiative with the forces that signed an agreement with his panel on the national dialogue on 5 September 2014 including the JEM, NUP, SLM-MM and the SPLM-N.

The leading figure at SLM-MM Bishara Manago said the four opposition forces who received the invitation from the American envoy would ask for amending the roadmap and holding a preparatory dialogue meeting abroad.

However, SLM-MM leader Minni Minnawi , in a post at his Facebook page stressed that the proposed Sudan Call meeting has been delayed, saying another meeting with the international envoys under the title “signing the roadmap that has lost its road” would be held instead.

He expected that the meeting with the international envoys would force the opposition forces to join the internal dialogue, pointing to the conflicting goals of the envoys, Mbeki and those who seek to introduce real changes to the roadmap.

In the same context, SPLM-N peace file spokesperson Mubarak Ardol expressed commitment to attend the Sudan Call meeting and to ensure its success, accusing several quarters including the Sudanese government of obfuscating on the meeting.

In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune Monday, Ardol denied existence of any arrangements to meet with the AUHIP or Mbeki or to sign the roadmap, saying the Sudan Call meeting would discuss the latest internal and external developments in order arrive at decisions that promote change and just peace.

June 13, 2016 (JUBA) – A local security guard working at the United States Embassy was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in the South Sudan capital, Juba on Saturday.

The U.S. envoy in Juba, Molly Phee said the deceased was a person who loved his nation.

“The work of the U.S. Embassy and USAID [US Agency for International Development] is made possible each day by the outstanding efforts of 320 South Sudanese members of our team,” said Phee in a statement extended to Sudan Tribune on Monday.

“They [local staff] love their country and support the U.S. government and the American people as we endeavour to promote peace and development in South Sudan. Today, as we mourn the loss of our dear colleague, we are reminded that too many South Sudanese have lost loved ones due to the recent conflict. We will redouble our efforts to help South Sudan overcome its current challenges,” it added.

The deceased, relatives said, worked as a guard at the American embassy for 10 years.

The statement, which did not name the deceased, said the “Local Guard Force was shot last night around 1:45 am while he was on duty protecting an embassy off-site facility.”

“He was immediately taken to Juba Teaching Hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds after unsuccessful emergency treatment,” further added the statement.

This is the first time a diplomatic mission worker has been killed while at a work station.

(ST)

June 13, 2016 (JUBA) - A High Court in South Sudan's national capital, Juba, has sentenced to life imprisonment 16 officials for playing a role in the stealing of more than 14 million US dollars from the office of President Salva Kiir.

President Salva Kiir addresses the nation at the South Sudan National Parliament in Juba, November 18, 2015. (Photo Reuters/Jok Solomon)

The High Court judge, Ladu Armenio, delivered the sentences on Monday afternoon. However, the defence lawyers have vowed to appeal the ruling.

John Agou Wuoi, Anyieth Chaat Paul, Yel Luol, Chaat Paul, Mayen Wol, Diing Ajieng, Nhumot Agot, Ana Kalisto, Kur Ayuen, Garang Aguer, Francis Yata, Anyang Majok Ayuen, Anthony Madimo, Anthony Dia, Raphini Jadada and Lisiuma are among the sentenced officials found to have stolen the money in a coordinated process.

President Kiir in June 2015 issued administrative orders suspending the executive director in his office, Mayen Wol and Yel Luol, chief administrator, who were until Monday sentenced to spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

This follows a month after national security officer attached to the Office of the President, John Agou, was arrested over the fraud. The men were accused and suspended on charges related to forging signature of President Kiir. This led to the loss of over $14 million in the name of the president.

The officials were allegedly using the signature of the president to steal 30 million South Sudanese pounds, with the help of 14 officials from the Central Bank and ministry of finance.

“The accused have been accused for abusing their power and misusing their positions and violated financial rules and regulations,” said Deng Achuil, senior legal counsel at the high court.

(ST)

U.S. Pres. Barack Obama chairs the Security Council Summit on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Credit: Bomoon Lee/IPS

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 13 2016 (IPS)

The world’s nuclear arsenal continues to decline – from 15,850 warheads in early 2015 to 15,395 in 2016, according to the latest figures released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Still, the more distressing news is that none of the nine nuclear weapon-possessing states – the US, UK, Russia, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – are prepared to give up their existing weapons now, or in the foreseeable future.

The decrease in the overall number is due mainly to Russia and the US – which together still account for more than 93 per cent of all nuclear weapons – further reducing their inventories of strategic nuclear weapons.

However, despite the implementation of the bilateral Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) since 2011, the pace of their reductions remains slow, said SIPRI.

The equally bad news, however, is the continued modernization of nuclear weapons both by the US and Russia.

Although details of the Russian program are not public, the US plans to spend $348 billion during 2015–24 on maintaining and comprehensively updating its nuclear forces.

Some estimates suggest that the US nuclear weapon modernization program may cost up to $1 trillion over the next 30 years, according to SIPRI.

Alice Slater, an Advisor to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and who serves on the Coordinating Committee of Abolition 2000, told IPS the US has committed to spending $348 billion over the next ten years on two new bomb factories, new warheads and upgraded delivery systems by planes, submarine and land-based missile, estimating a budget of one trillion dollars over the next 30 years.

Last summer, the US tested a dummy warhead in Nevada for an earth-penetrating nuclear bunker buster, she pointed out.

Despite President Barack Obama’s qualified April 2009 Prague speech urging a world free of nuclear weapons – for which he received a Nobel Peace Prize, even after having noted that his dream of a world free of nuclear weapons “may not happen in my lifetime”- he has made the smallest reductions in the US nuclear arsenal compared to any previous US President, said Slater.

And Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for US President at the November elections, famously misquoted Obama’s Prague speech when she was Secretary of State, saying Obama had said a nuclear weapons free world may not happen for “several lifetimes,” she added.

Last month UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his call for a world without nuclear weapons.

“Disarmament is part of the DNA of the United Nations, which was formed when the first and last use of nuclear weapons in war was fresh in people’s minds.”

Since then, he pointed out, all countries have rejected the use of nuclear weapons.

“But until these weapons are completely eliminated, they continue to pose a threat to our common well-being.  Fears of nuclear terrorism make disarmament even more urgent and important,” he added.

Hans Kristensen, co-author of the SIPRI Yearbook said the ambitious US modernization plan presented by the Obama Administration is in stark contrast to President Barack Obama’s pledge to reduce the number of nuclear weapons and the role they play in US national security strategy.

The other nuclear weapon-possessing states have much smaller arsenals, but have all either begun to deploy new nuclear weapon delivery systems or announced their intention to do so, he added.

China appears to be gradually increasing its nuclear forces as it modernizes the arsenal. India and Pakistan are both expanding their nuclear weapon stockpiles and missile delivery capabilities.

North Korea is estimated to have enough fissile material for approximately 10 nuclear warheads. However, it is unclear whether North Korea has produced or deployed operational weapons, said Kristensen.

“Despite the ongoing reduction in the number of weapons, the prospects for genuine progress towards nuclear disarmament remain gloomy,” said Shannon Kile, Head of the SIPRI Nuclear Weapons Project.

“All the nuclear weapon-possessing states continue to prioritize nuclear deterrence as the cornerstone of their national security strategies,” he added.

Apart from counting bombs in the respective nuclear arsenals, Slater told IPS, “we must factor in the aggressive and provocative expansion of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) up to the Russian border as a block to nuclear disarmament, despite promises given to (former Soviet leader Mikhail) Gorbachev when the Berlin Wall came down that NATO would not expand beyond East Germany as well as the US having planted new missile bases in Turkey, Romania and Poland after President Bush walked out of 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

It is significant that part of the deal US President John F. Kennedy made with Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev when the Soviet Union took their missiles out of Cuba was that the US would remove its missiles from Turkey.

“Despite the ongoing reduction in the number of weapons, the prospects for genuine progress towards nuclear disarmament remain gloomy." -- Shannon Kile

“Well they are back in Turkey.  The US also plans to modernize the nuclear weapons it bases in five NATO countries, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Turkey, and Italy.   And the US Asia “pivot” with expanded bases in Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines is an enormous obstacle to enroll the Asian nuclear powers in endorsing nuclear disarmament,” declared Slater.

She argued that US plans to dominate and control the military use of space also block further possibilities for nuclear disarmament.

Gorbachev and (US President Ronald) Reagan spoke about abolishing nuclear weapons, but Gorbachev pulled his offer off the table when Reagan wouldn’t promise to forego Star Wars.

Then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin offered a deal to (US President Bill) Clinton “to cut our massive arsenals to 1,000 nuclear weapons each, at which point we could invite all the other nuclear weapons states to the table to negotiate for their elimination, but only  if Clinton would forego the development of missile bases in Eastern Europe.

Slater said Clinton refused, and subsequently Bush unilaterally withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002.  Russia and China have actually been proposing, since 2008, a draft treaty to ban weapons in space which the US vigorously opposes by blocking consensus to even discuss it in the Committee on Disarmament in Geneva.

Finally, the nuclear weapons states have boycotted the 2016 Geneva meetings of the Open Ended Working Group for Nuclear Disarmament, established by the UN General Assembly, which have been discussing the legal gap in the law that fails to prohibit and ban nuclear weapons as we have done for biological and chemical weapons.

The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) merely promises “good faith efforts” for nuclear disarmament and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) left a gap in its 1996 decision on the legality of nuclear weapons when it said it couldn’t decide if nuclear weapons were illegal in the case where the very survival of a state was at stake.

“It appears that the non-nuclear weapons states may be prepared this year to start negotiations on a ban treaty without the rogue nuclear weapons states and some of the hypocritical “weasel” states who profess to want nuclear abolition but rely on the US nuclear umbrella for their “security”.”

These include NATO states and Japan, incredible as that may seem, as well as Australia and South Korea.  Hopefully, a treaty to ban the bomb signed by the 127 countries that are supporting the effort at this time, may break up this discouraging logjam for meaningful progress on nuclear disarmament as reported in the recent SIPR Annual count of the world’s nuclear arsenals, Slater noted.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@aol.com

A Rainbow flag is displayed in the window of the United States Mission to the United Nations during LGBT Pride Month. Credit: Phillip Kaeding / IPS.

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 13 2016 (IPS)

Though the High Level Meeting on Ending AIDS ended with the adoption of bold and life saving targets, many organisations have expressed their disappointment in its outcomes.

During the meeting, the international community adopted a new Political Declaration that lays down the groundwork to accelerate HIV prevention and treatment and end AIDS by 2030.

UN member states committed to achieving a 90-90-90 treatment target where 90 percent of people living with HIV know their status, 90 percent who know their HIV status are accessing treatment and 90 percent of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads. Reaching the treatment target will prevent 75 percent of new infections and ensure that 30 million people living with HIV (PLHIV) have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) by 2020.

Though many organisations that IPS spoke to were encouraged by the commitments, they also expressed concern and disappointment in the Declaration’s shortfalls.

“I think what the high level meeting showed us was the gap between reality and politics at the UN,” said International Women’s Health Coalition’s (IWHC) Director of Advocacy & Policy, Shannon Kowalski.

“The Political Declaration didn’t go far enough to address the epidemic that we face today,” she continued.

“If we are serious about ending AIDS, we need to go far beyond what is in the Political Declaration." -- Shannon Kowalski

Many were particularly concerned with stripped and exclusionary language on so-called key populations in the document.

“When we saw in the Declaration that key populations were less mentioned than 5 years ago…it is a real setback,” Alix Zuinghedau from Coalition Plus, a French international union for HIV/AIDS organisations, told IPS.

Among these key populations is the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Though the LGBT population continues to be disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, they are only mentioned once in the Declaration.

Executive Director of Stop TB Partnership Lucica Ditiu told IPS that the document mentions vulnerable populations in relation to tuberculosis (TB), but that it should have been extended throughout the Declaration.

“We have a saying in my country: With one eye I laugh, with one eye I cry. Because that piece was missing,” she said.

The Declaration includes a target to reduce TB-related deaths among people living with HIV by 75 percent by 2020.

Amirah Sequeira, Associate Director of Health Global Access Project’s (GAP) International Campaigns and Communications, also noted the lack of language and commitment to decriminalize key populations including men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and sex workers.

“The exclusion of commitments to decriminalize these populations will hold back the ability for the world to reach the bold new targets that the Declaration committed to,” she told IPS.

When asked about these concerns, the Deputy Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), one of the main organisers of the meeting, Luiz Lorres told IPS that this exclusion will impede efforts to achieve the 90-90-90 treatment target.

“I acknowledge that more needs to be done,” he said.

Organisations have also pointed to issues around financing.

Through the Declaration, governments have committed to increasing funds for HIV response to $26 billion per year by 2020, as estimated by UNAIDS. However, Sequeira noted that not only is there a $6 billion funding gap, but also donors tend to flat line or reduce funding despite pledges.

“[Reaching the goal] will not be possible if donors continue to do what unfortunately they have been doing which is flat lining or pulling back funding from global AIDS programs,” she told IPS.

Though she applauded the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’s (PEPFAR) newly launched $100 million Key Populations Investment Fund, Sequeira stated that PEPFAR needs a $500 million increase each year between now and 2020 in order for the U.S. to provide its fair share of needed financing.

Zuinghedau told IPS that without additional funding to scale up programs for key populations, the goal to reduce infections and end AIDS will not be possible.

“It is very frustrating to see countries say, yes we want to end AIDS but we’re not going to add any more funding. It’s a contradiction,” she told IPS.

The government of Canada recently announced a pledge of almost US$615 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the next three years, a 20 percent increase from its previous pledge.

Kowalski applauded the move, stating: “If Canada can do it, we know that other governments can do it as well.”

Though the Declaration highlights the need to increase domestic resources for countries’ own HIV response, Ditiu stressed the need to ensure that governments continue to invest in vulnerable groups because they are often the first ones to “fall between the cracks.”

She added that it is important to include key populations in the implementation of commitments.

Sequeira also urged for the implementation of strong accountability mechanisms to ensure that commitments are translated into effective responses.

Though the Political Declaration is not “perfect,” Kowalski noted that it provides the bare minimum required to take HIV response to the next level.

“If we are serious about ending AIDS, we need to go far beyond what is in the Political Declaration,” she said.

Ethiopia and Eritrea exchange accusations over who started fighting at their heavily militarised border on Sunday.

Tanzanian musician Hakim Raymond is the only classical conductor in his country and his passion is helping to change opinions about classical music.

The Security Council today decided to extend until 15 December 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), encouraging the operation to re-establish a permanent presence in the country through a phased return.

The UN envoy to Libya calls for a probe into the murders of 12 Gaddafi loyalists after their release from jail in Tripoli.

On his first visit to Kenya, the chief of the United Nations refugee agency received assurances from the African country that the return of refugees to Somalia would not contravene international obligations.

By Rukhsana Shah
Jun 13 2016 (Dawn, Pakistan)

Women with disabilities face triple discrimination the world over on the basis of disability, gender and poverty. They are the most marginalised of all population groups including men with disabilities. The negative stereotyping of women with disabilities puts them at greater physical risk as they are exposed to neglect, emotional abuse, domestic violence and rape.

The writer is a former federal secretary.

According to the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programmes, 83pc of women with disabilities will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, while the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in South Africa reports that these women are less able to escape abusive caregivers.

The 2011 World Report on Disability indicates that the global female disability prevalence rate is higher at 19.2pc against 12pc for men because women are discriminated against since birth in terms of nutrition, immunisation and medical interventions. The global literacy rate for women with disabilities is 1pc with only 20pc of them getting any rehabilitation services. They are paid less than their male counterparts at work, given fewer loans for education or self-employment, and face stronger barriers in accessing vocational training, leisure facilities and justice.

With these global givens, it is not surprising that in Pakistan where being female itself is debilitating, women with disabilities live at the very peripheries of society, differentiated and unequalised by a culture that is patriarchal, religiously obscurantist and anti-women. The family, community, institutions and the state — the touchstones of human civilisation — are arrayed against them. Seventy per cent live in rural areas in the most appalling conditions where even provision of rehab services and assistive devices is discriminatory, making everyday living a challenge in itself.

Disabled women languish in the darkest corners.

Disability should not be a stigma, but accepted as a natural human condition by all the protagonists — people with disabilities, families, communities, civil society and the government. Last year, Madeline Stuart became the world’s first model with Down’s syndrome to appear on the catwalk at the New York Fashion Week. Television channels and social media networks should use social marketing to influence social behaviours and raise awareness about disability in collaboration with educational institutions, while women’s groups should initiate membership drives focusing on women with disabilities in order to empower them.

A great deal of work has been done at the international level under the aegis of the UN to create a comprehensive legislative and policy framework for a rights-based and barrier-free inclusive society.

Apart from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, ESCAP has taken a number of initiatives, among which are the Biwako Millennium Framework for Action and Biwako Plus Five, the Bali Declaration adopted by Asean, the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, the Beijing Declaration on Disability-Inclusive Development, and the Incheon Strategy, to accelerate action during the current Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013–2022.

The Incheon Strategy also mandates member states to report triennially on the progress made on its time-bound and measurable goals.

Despite these international commitments and provisions in Articles 25, 37 and 38 of the Constitution, women with disabilities continue to languish in the darkest spaces in Pakistan, uncounted and uncared for. It is imperative for the government to take visible and affirmative action to ensure that its image at least in the international community is not further tarnished due to inaction on this front. A high-profile policy dialogue with organisations representing people with disabilities should be arranged to discuss legislative and implementation mechanisms in line with UN conventions and the Incheon strategy, along with the formation of a specific parlia¬mentary body to carry out this task.

There is no data on persons with disabilities in Pakistan as no serious at¬¬tempt has been made since 1998 to conduct a census to assess their numbers. The government needs to initiate compilation of gender-disaggregated disability data, include the disability dimension in all policymaking and budgeting exercises, and encourage the private sector to promote disability-inclusive business practices.

It is not rocket science to advise public-sector banks to float disability-friendly loans, fix job quotas for women with disabilities, subsidise the use of new technologies, introduce tax rebates for their families as is being done in India, and make BISP conditional upon the safety, education and vocational training of the disabled. Instead of signal-free roads, the government should set up fully equipped community resource centres to provide them opportunities for mobility, training and leisure time.

However, at present, all federal government structures relating to these critical constitutional and human rights issues stand disempowered after the 18th Amendment. If the government wishes not to remain within the confines of Islamabad, it will need to reclaim its lost spaces by acknowledging its responsibilities towards this most marginalised of communities groups in the country.

The writer is a former federal secretary. rukhsana.hassan@gmail.com

This story was originally published by Dawn, Pakistan, June 12th, 2016

By Nizamuddin Ahmed
Jun 13 2016 (The Daily Star, Bangladesh)

Selfies were born when people found no one to take their photo. Again, no one among family and friends wanted to be left out, and so the crowding into the frame began. The fish-pout emanates from self-consciousness, and then mimicry. Phones got cheaper, the reversible camera was installed, apps arrived to share the shots with friends and others, a system of approval (‘like’) was invented, and an epidemic was born.

Illustration: Davehaenggi

Selfies today are a big part of the internet-based public network, the growing web culture. While a great deal of the photography is of glee and gladness, anniversaries and moments of joy, alarmingly a good number of insensitive users chose to go overboard, much to their own peril – social, psychological and physical. It is the outcome of an urge to outdo one another; self-esteem and personal safety can go to hell.

People have taken selfies, smiling against a bellowing fire or a coffin at burial. Two girls, God knows why, took a selfie in a funeral home bathroom. Natural disaster victims became the background to ‘sympathisers’ with pouting lips. Animals have bitten selfie-masters at the right time in the wrong place. Doctors and nurses were selfied by a patient in labour. A girl was clinging on to the edge of a cliff and her friend did the selfie in full grin mode.

On occasions, the dignity of a person is at stake due to overindulgence on Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Tumblr . . . Only last week, a woman was chatting on her mobile phone while travelling on the Kolkata-Delhi train. While still at it, she got up to go to the toilet and returned to her seat after finishing her job, unawares that she had left her pyjamas behind. To her, a greater incident would have been for the handset to have dropped in the loo.

Selfie-ness derives from loneliness and/or desperation for attention. With society suffering from both, a contraption at the end of a stretched-out arm and people huddling to get into the frame is now accepted as normal social etiquette.

Some selfies have remained the last before the unfortunate were struck by tragedy, self-inflicted if you will.

Twenty-one year old Oscar Otero Aguilar was “drinking and decided he wanted to make a new Facebook profile picture by taking a selfie with a gun to his head. The gun was loaded and went off, killing Oscar”.

There is an element of craziness attached to this wave of common practice. “Two Iranian girls were taking a selfie video of themselves singing while driving. Luckily, when they did crash they weren’t killed, just badly injured.” But that did not deter them. “They also took a selfie on the way to the hospital.”

Courtney Sanford was not that blessed. She “posted a selfie while driving and listening to the song “Happy” by Pharrel Williams. Seconds later her car crashed into a truck causing a fatal accident.”

People can be stupid when it comes to impressing others on the social media. To some, it is an unsaid contest. Eighteen-year old Xenia Ignatyeva “climbed a 28-foot (8.4m) railroad bridge to take a selfie and lost her balance. When she fell she grabbed onto high voltage wires and was electrocuted.”

Our youths, as well as adults if not to that extent, have been enamoured by this ‘like’ fad. Below I narrate a posting from one of my younger Facebook friends last week:

“This (10/6/2016) afternoon, a tragic incident took place in our Rampura WAPDA Road area. Some Class VIII students went to the rooftop of a six-storied building to shoot a video. The video was about them jumping from one rooftop to another, a ‘sport’ called parkour (which does not advocate unnecessary risk). They would post that video on Facebook to get maximum ‘likes’.

“They did not understand how big a risk they were taking at such a tender age. While leaping from one roof to another, one of the boys fell down between two six-storied buildings. His friends were lost for words. The boy has broken bones. With severe head injuries he is now fighting for life at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The police have taken his friends into custody.

“Although this is a heart-rending incident, the social conditions of our youth are more frightening. Why should the ‘like’ madness affect Class VIII students, 12-13-year-olds, that they have to take the risk of falling from a six-storied roof? Bro, your life has not yet begun. Did you have to finish it so soon? Why do you have to become famous now by getting like after like? You are not yet in college, not yet a graduate, not yet employed, not married, [have] not yet served your parents. There is so much to do, so much to see in life.

“If you have to be famous, succeed in life. Then you[r] one post will get one thousand likes. Your writing, your picture, will then not only be seen by boys and girls of your class and school, but by the entire country. Don’t strive to become a so-called ‘Facebook Celebrity’.

“Guardians too have to be aware. At what age are we giving our children a smart phone? Why? What are they doing [with] it? Do they know about the dark aspects? We have to think.”

Let us not yearn for the approval of another, especially not in a manner that can endanger or jeopardise life.

The writer is a practising Architect at BashaBari Ltd., a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow, a Baden-Powell Fellow Scout Leader, and a Major Donor Rotarian.

This story was originally published by The Daily Star, Bangladesh

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Anna Sapur of the Hako Women's Collective leads a human rights training program for youths in Hako Constituency, North Bougainville. Credit: Catherine Wilson/IPS

By Catherine Wilson
HAKO, Buka Island, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea , Jun 13 2016 (IPS)

Finding a sense of identity and purpose, as well as employment are some of the challenges facing youths in post-conflict Bougainville, an autonomous region in eastern Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific Islands.

They have been labelled the ‘lost generation’ due to their risk of being marginalised after missing out on education during the Bougainville civil war (1989-1998), known locally as the ‘Crisis’.

But in Hako constituency, where an estimated 30,000 people live in villages along the north coast of Buka Island, North Bougainville, a local women’s community services organisation refuses to see the younger generation as anything other than a source of optimism and hope.

“They are our future leaders and our future generation, so we really value the youths,” Dorcas Gano, president of the Hako Women’s Collective (HWC) told IPS.“There were no schools, no teachers and no services here and we had no food to eat. I saw people killed with my own eyes and we didn’t sleep at night, we were frightened." -- Gregory Tagu, who was in fifth grade when the war broke out.

Youth comprise about 60 percent of Bougainville’s estimated population of 300,000, which has doubled since the 1990s. The women’s collective firmly believes that peace and prosperity in years to come depends on empowering young men and women in these rainforest-covered islands to cope with the challenges of today with a sense of direction.

One challenge, according to Gregory Tagu, a youth from Kohea village, is the psychological transition to a world without war.

“Nowadays, youths struggle to improve their lives and find a job because they are traumatised. During the Crisis, young people grew up with arms and knives and even today they go to school, church and walk around the village with knives,” Tagu explained.

Tens of thousands of children were affected by the decade-long conflict, which erupted after demands for compensation for environmental damage and inequity by landowners living in the vicinity of the Panguna copper mine in the mountains of central Bougainville were unmet. The mine, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, a British-Australian multinational, opened in 1969 and was operated by its Australian subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Ltd, until it was shut down in 1989 by revolutionary forces.

The conflict raged on for another eight years after the Papua New Guinea Government blockaded Bougainville in 1990 and the national armed forces and rebel groups battled for control of the region.

Many children were denied an education when schools were burnt down and teachers fled. They suffered when health services were decimated, some became child soldiers and many witnessed severe human rights abuses.

Tagu was in fifth grade when the war broke out. “There were no schools, no teachers and no services here and we had no food to eat. I saw people killed with my own eyes and we didn’t sleep at night, we were frightened,” he recalled.

Trauma is believed to contribute to what women identify as a youth sub-culture today involving alcohol, substance abuse and petty crime, which is inhibiting some to participate in positive development.

They believe that one of the building blocks to integrating youths back into a peaceful society is making them aware of their human rights.

In a village meeting house about 20-30 young men and women, aged from early teens to late thirties, gather in a circle as local singer Tasha Kabano performs a song about violence against women. Then Anna Sapur, an experienced village court magistrate, takes the floor to speak about what constitutes human rights abuses and the entitlement of men, women and children to lives free of injustice and physical violations. Domestic violence, child abuse and neglect were key topics in the vigorous debate which followed.

But social integration for this age group also depends on economic participation. Despite 15 years of peace and better access to schools, completing education is still a challenge for many. An estimated 90 percent of students leave before the end of Grade 10 with reasons including exam failure and inability to meet costs.

“There are plenty of young people who cannot read and write, so we really need to train them in adult literacy,” Elizabeth Ngosi, an HWC member from Tuhus village declared, adding that currently they don’t have access to this training.

Similar to other small Pacific Island economies, only a few people secure formal sector jobs in Bougainville while the vast majority survive in the informal economy.

At the regional level, Justin Borgia, Secretary for the Department of Community Development, said that the Autonomous Bougainville Government is keen to see a long-term approach to integrating youths through formal education and informal life skills training. District Youth Councils with government assistance have identified development priorities including economic opportunities, improving local governance and rule of law.

In Hako, women are particularly concerned for the 70 percent of early school leavers who are unemployed and in 2007 the collective conducted their first skills training program. More than 400 youths were instructed in 30 different trade and technical skills, creative visual and music art, accountancy, leadership, health, sport, law and justice and public speaking.

Two-thirds of those who participated were successful in finding employment, Gano claims.

“Some of them have work and some have started their own small businesses….Some are carpenters now and have their own small contracts building houses back in the villages,” she said.

Tuition in public speaking was of particular value to Gregory Tagu.

“I have no CV or reference, but with my public speaking skills I was able to tell people about my experience and this helped me to get work,” Tagu said. Now he works as a truck driver for a commercial business and a technical officer for the Hako Media Unit, a village-based media resource set up after an Australian non-government organisation, Pacific Black Box, provided digital media training to local youths.

Equipping young people with skills and confidence is helping to shape a new future here and further afield. HWC’s president is particularly proud that some from the village have gone on to take up youth leadership positions in other parts of Bougainville, including the current President of the Bougainville Youth Federation.

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